P R E F A C E

Decorative woodcut initial 'S' with floral and vine patterns.
This Sacrament The author refers to the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. is first of all in dignity and excellence, and as St. Dionysius the Areopagite A 5th or 6th-century theologian (now often called Pseudo-Dionysius) whose writings were highly influential in the Middle Ages and the Counter-Reformation. He was traditionally identified as the convert of St. Paul in Athens. says, it is the "Completion and perfection of the others." Therefore, it is discussed by authors everywhere with greater preparation and detail than any other sacrament. This is done with the best of reasons, not only because of its singular eminence—in view of which some writers choose to begin their entire dissertations on divine mysteries with this Most August AugustissimoMeaning "most venerable" or "sacred." In this context, it is a title of high honor for the Eucharist. Sacrament—but also to counter the efforts of adversaries, who attack this mystery in more ways than they do all the rest. The Lutherans acknowledged, to be sure, that God is present in the Holy Eucharist, but they did not glorify Him as God; as the Apostle says concerning the wise men of this world in Romans 1:21 original: "vt in simili de mundi huius Sapientibus Apostolus inquit, ad Rom. 1. 21.", as if indeed Christ the Lord could not be adored wherever He is, or as if Holy Scripture—which they claim to follow—had forbidden it to happen. The Calvinists, alongside them—indeed, even more so than them—"became vain in their thoughts," as is added in the same passage, or, as the Greek text has it, they became empty in their inquiries and discourses; while they changed the evangelical truth of the New Testament into the figures and shadows of the old instrument The "old instrument" refers to the Old Testament. The author is accusing the Calvinists of treating the Eucharist as a mere symbol or "shadow," similar to the rituals of the Mosaic Law, rather than a physical reality., and the last will...